


Leaving

by MikazukiMunechika305



Category: Hakuouki
Genre: baka trio, somehow Sano manages to appear in all my stories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-21
Updated: 2015-11-21
Packaged: 2018-05-02 17:09:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5256767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MikazukiMunechika305/pseuds/MikazukiMunechika305
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sanosuke and Shinpachi are thinking about Heisuke after leaving the Shinsengumi.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Leaving

“Heisuke's definitely sleeping right now,” Shinpachi says, but from the glance Sanosuke gives him he can tell that his friend doesn't think so.

'I'm sure he's drinking right now until he's forgotten everything,' is what Sanosuke doesn't say.

Saying farewell isn't what the two of them want. They don't want to leave the Shinsengumi, but after having seen so many men die in vain, they've agreed that they can't fight for Kondou if he keeps leading the Shinsengumi the way he's doing now.

Since it doesn't seems like he wants to listen to their reasons, they've decided to leave the Shinsengumi—at least for some months; they aren't sure if they'll ever return, and if they do, when this will happen.

“Well, we should take our leave then,” Sanosuke says and the two of them turn around to cross the bridge.

“The two of you, take care!” Chizuru calls out, her voice sounding sad and some kind of desperate. This is only understandable—two of her important friends are leaving now, after all, and she doesn't know if she'll ever see them again.

“You too!” Shinpachi replies, waving at her for a last time.

 

The two of them travel around Kyoto for a few days and take a room at an inn for the night between the sixth and the seventh day—a room with three beds, since there's no room for two left and they don't feel like taking separate rooms.

There's an unusual silence in the room. If Heisuke was with them, the room would have been filled with laughter or Heisuke and Shinpachi's fights, but he's not with them.

They're no longer the Baka Trio.

“We're so pathetic,” Sanosuke mumbles, lifting up his cup of sake. “We're just leaving because we don't like the way Kondou-san leads us. And we're leaving Heisuke alone.”  
Shinpachi shakes his head. “We aren't pathetic because we're leaving the Shinsengumi, Sano. If we are pathetic, then it's because of Heisuke. I'm sure he wasn't sleeping when we were leaving.”  
“Ah. He surely was drinking, just like we are now. But we can't be angry at him for this. He probably just wants to forget.”

“We're pretty similar, huh? I mean him and us. We're so stupid and...”  
“That's why they call us the Baka Trio,” the redhead answers. “And in all his stupidity, Heisuke probably hates us now. We just left him alone.”  
“We talked to him about it. He said it was okay.”

The brown-haired warrior is right, but when Sanosuke thinks back to when they talked to their friend, he clearly remembers that Heisuke didn't sound happy about it.

 

“ _You're_ what _?” the youngest commander asks in disbelief._

“ _We're gonna leave,” Shinpachi repeats and Sanosuke rolls his eyes._

 _He'd have liked to tell Heisuke in a more empathic way, like,_ “Heisuke, we're not pleased with the way Kondou-san leads the Shinsengumi right now. You've seen how many men have died in vain, right? Shinpachi and me maybe will leave. We can't let any more of our men die without any implication.”

_But of course Shinpachi barely knows how to be tactful, just like Heisuke himself._

“ _But...” Heisuke protests, turning around to look at Sanosuke. “Sano-san, tell me this is one of his stupid jokes. Tell me you're not gonna leave. Tell me you're not gonna make me stay here alone.”_

“ _It's not as if you were alone,” Sanosuke whispers, leaning forward, putting one hand on Heisuke's head. “I'm sorry, Heisuke, but we're really going to leave.”_

“ _You're really gonna leave...” the brown-haired boy repeats quietly, tears welling up in his eyes, before he jumps up and grabs Sanosuke by his collar. “Why are you going to leave?! Why the hell are you going to leave me here?!”_

“ _Oi, Heisuke, leave—”_

“ _No, Shinpachi,” Sanosuke cuts in. “Let him do what he has to do. Wouldn't you react the same way if I told you I'd leave with him?”_

_Shinpachi remains quiet, watching the young boy shaking his friend._

“ _Why?! Answer me, Sanosuke! You can't do this to me!”_

_The redhead doesn't even complain when Heisuke slaps him into the face; he just bears it quietly before he lifts his hands and grabs his wrists. “Listen, Heisuke. We never said we'd leave you here. If you want to, you can come with us.” Secretly, he hopes that Heisuke will agree to this because he actually doesn't want to leave him. On the other hand, he knows that Heisuke would never abandon Chizuru, Hijikata-san and his division._

_And this is what Heisuke says._

_“I can't, Sano-san. I can't just go away and abandon my division, Chizuru and Hijikata-san. You might be able to do this, but I'm not.”_   
_Shinpachi stretches out his hand. “Heisuke...”_   
_Heisuke sobs, “I don't want you to go.”_   
_“We don't want it either,” Sanosuke replies honestly, embracing the boy who has been like a little brother to him all this time. “I'm so sorry, Heisuke. But we can't stay here if Kondou-san's leadership is going to stay the way it is. We can't let anyone die in vain; that already happened to too many people.”_

_“I... I know, but...”_   
_“It's just... that's just the way it is,” Shinpachi mumbles and caresses Heisuke's back awkwardly. “We can't help it, can we?”_   
_“If we could, we'd already have changed it—but apparently Kondou-san isn't in the mood to listen to reason,” Sanosuke sighs sadly. “It seems like the only thing left for us is asking you to forgive us, huh?”_   
_The brown-haired boy rubs his eyes to wish away the tears. “It's okay, Sano-san, Shinpattsuan. You don't seem to have another choice. Just... promise you won't forget me.”_   
_“Hey, it's not like we'll never meet again. Maybe we'll come back once? Maybe you'll leave as well? You can never know, can you? So don't fall into despair now. Of course we won't forget you. We'll stay the Baka Trio, just like before. We'll just be... a bit farther away.”_

_Heisuke nods and puts up a sorrowful smile that shows all his sadness. “Then you're allowed to go.”_

 

“...Yeah, you're right,” Shinpachi agrees hesitatingly. “But still, he said he was okay with it.”  
“I know you are one of my two best friends and I feel very sorry for having to say that, Shinpachi, but you're really not very tactful!” Sanosuke calls out. “Everyone would have noticed that he lied for our sake. You're a good commander, but as a friend, you often lack at consideration. He lied so we'd think he'd be okay with us leaving because he didn't want us to stay because of him.”  
The brown-haired man slowly nods, taking a sip of his sake. “You're probably right. I promise I'll try to work on that.”

If there's anything about Shinpachi you can trust, it's a promise made by him. Shinpachi always makes his promises come true, even if it takes some time.

Suddenly, there's a knock at the door and it opens not half a second later—a person enters the room, looking around for a second and then jumping at Sanosuke, calling, “Sano-san! Shinpattsuan!”  
There is only one person who calls Shinpachi like this.

Heisuke.

“Heisuke?!” the two older members of the Baka Trio call out in surprise.

“What are you doing here?”  
“I couldn't bear it without you. It's just so... I don't know... quiet if you're not there! That made me nervous and even Chizuru told me I wasn't behaving like myself. So I decided to look for you.”

Sanosuke hugs him tightly—he'd never admit it, but he really has missed Heisuke—and asks, “But how did you find us?”  
“It's not _that_ hard to describe the two of you. And a lot of people have seen you in town, so I found out that you were here! Now we can be the Baka Trio again!”  
“You're really an idiot,” Sanosuke sighs, trying to keep his voice under control and fighting back the emotional tears welling up in his eyes. “Who would've ever thought you'd actually come after us?”  
“You're my best friends!”

“I know, but...”  
“He just felt lonely,” Shinpachi cuts in and Sanosuke laughs at him.

“That's no real consideration, Shinpachi—but I'll let it count. Come now, Heisuke—have some sake.”  
Heisuke looks at him in surprise. “But you always say...”  
“Today's a special day,” Shinpachi cuts him off, “we'll ignore you being a kid for once. Drink as much as you want!”

Heisuke smiles happily. “Arigato!”


End file.
